Ground Microgravity Experiment System for Spacecraft-manipulator Based on Air-bearing and Suspension

doi:10.3901/JME.2025.09.241

Abstract

Abstract: With the continuous development of aerospace technology, the existing aerospace ground microgravity experiment system cannot provide a long-term and stable ground microgravity environment for the combination of the large mass or inertia spacecraft and the large-scale space manipulator. Considering this characteristic, a spacecraft-manipulator ground microgravity experiment system based on suspension and air-bearing is proposed, where suspension is used to compensate the gravity of the large-scale space manipulator, and air-bearing is used to compensate the gravity of the large mass or inertia spacecraft simulator. In order to realise the ground six-degree-of-freedom motion of a large mass or inertia spacecraft, a two-degree-of-freedom rotation mechanism is designed in the target spacecraft simulator, and a proportional weighting approach is introduced to make the dynamic characteristics of the target spacecraft simulator consistent with the real spacecraft same. Moreover, multiple suspension optimization and control algorithms are proposed. A spacecraft-manipulator transposition experiment is conducted to verify the gravity compensation accuracy of the system. Experiment results show the system can provide high-precision microgravity levels for ground experiments of the spacecraft-manipulator, and even carry out other ground experiments such as capturing non-cooperative targets, fine maintenance and repairs by dual-arm space robots. The experiment system also provides new inspiration for the construction of a ground microgravity experiment environment for aerospace.

Key words: microgravity experiment system, two-degree-of-freedom rotation mechanism, suspension gravity compensation system, air-bearing gravity compensation system, proportional weighting approach

CLC Number:

V416

XU Zhigang, WEI Yaqiang, LU Han, HE Yun, BAI Xinlin, ZHAO Zhen, ZHANG Xiao. Ground Microgravity Experiment System for Spacecraft-manipulator Based on Air-bearing and Suspension[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2025, 61(9): 241-251.

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